


Throttle

by swtalmnd



Series: Smooth Gear Action [8]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Communicating Like Actual Fucking Adults, I do what I want, Light Angst, M/M, Pre-Stuckony, Sam Would Be So Proud, Unbetaed we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:27:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24503848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swtalmnd/pseuds/swtalmnd
Summary: Steve shows up uninvited and unannounced at the shop. Things go about as well as you'd expect.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark
Series: Smooth Gear Action [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1456993
Comments: 34
Kudos: 193
Collections: StarkBucksBingo2020





	Throttle

**Author's Note:**

> Important background things implied but not stated in this series:  
> 1\. Tony is not Iron Man. There is no Iron Man. He was a tech consultant for SHIELD before they were destroyed.  
> 2\. Bucky didn't kill Tony's parents.  
> 3\. Steve implies he could've just offed Bucky if he'd only had the moral fortitude and let me just say, bitch he thinks.
> 
> Thanks to Dr. QT & newtypeshadow for cheerreading! My usual beta is busy with something else and I got impatient, so here we are. Please do tell me if you find a typo, lol. XD
> 
> This fills my StarkBucks Bingo square B-5: "Please, stay."

"I just want you to know that this is not my fault," said Sam, voice piped into Tony's bedroom far too early.

"That is not a good way to start a conversation," said Tony, yawning into Bucky's shoulder. "Or a morning."

"Tony, it's noon," said Sam.

Bucky chuckled. "Time is meaningless," he replied. "Is this about Steve?"

"Your idiot bff has gone on a hunt for you, and I have no idea how, but I think he's headed your way now. I promise on my mother's pot roast recipe that he didn't learn it from me." Sam sounded exasperated more than anything.

Tony chuckled, only a little bitter. "I knew a Steve like that once." He yawned again. "I won't blame you as long as you bring groceries asap. Bucky, is the list done?"

"Almost. JARVIS, can you add the stuff we talked about last night and send it over?" Bucky had grown comfortable with all of Tony's AIs over the weeks he'd been there, adjusting happily to Tony's level of tech-dependence.

"I can do that," said Sam. "I've got the list from J, so I'm gonna hang up while you explain your bff to Tony."

"I'm afraid there isn't time for that," said JARVIS. "I am detecting a vehicle approaching very quickly."

"Fuck me," said Tony. "Can you at least goose the coffee machine? I left it ready to go."

"Of course, sir," said JARVIS.

Bucky and Tony rolled out of bed and did a very sketchy job of readying themselves, basically mouthwash and a quick splash of water, fingers run through their bedhead and t-shirts pulled on as they headed upstairs. Tony ended up with one of Bucky's henleys under his own Black Sabbath shirt, but he didn't really mind having a little bit of possessiveness showing for their impending company.

"I hope that asshole is proud of himself," muttered Bucky darkly. "Do you wanna stay down here while I deal with him?"

"Nah," said Tony, pulling Bucky down for a kiss. "It's been almost a month, I can meet the family."

Bucky laughed a little hysterically while Tony poured them both big travel mugs of coffee. "J, get DUM-E on shake duty, I think we're both gonna need the boost."

"Of course, sir," said JARVIS. "ETA 30 seconds."

"Fuck," said Bucky, with great feeling.

They shared a ride in the cargo elevator, closing the shop door as an extra layer of obfuscation while it went back to being a wall. Bucky barely managed to open the front door before his friend could pound on the glass.

Which was good, because his friend looked like he would have put his fist through it. And could have, because his friend was Steve Fucking Rogers.

"What the fuck?" said Tony, stopping short a pace behind Bucky.

Bucky already had one hand on Steve's shoulder, but they both turned at that and Rogers' eyes bugged out.

"Tony?" he said, sounding hurt and angry and just as annoying as Tony remembered. "But... you died."

"Yes, and it was tragic, because someone didn't finish his end of the job at hand," said Tony bitterly, stabbing his fingers in furious gestures as he ranted. "Me, my friends, dozens, hundreds of other people died because when push came to shove, you couldn't close the fucking deal."

"Wait, what?" said Bucky, confused. "You two know each other?"

"I thought we were friends. I thought Stark died when SHIELD went down. I thought he was another person I'd lost for good," said Steve, dark and dangerous now. "I guess I didn't know anything as well as I thought."

"I'm not the one who vanished during a high-stakes firefight, Captain Asshole," said Tony. "Bucky, I take it back. Your bestie isn't welcome in my home." Tony turned on his heel and vanished into the garage proper, slamming the door between it and the office behind him.

JARVIS helpfully piped in the audio from the office, the traitor.

"What is he talkin' about, Steve?" said Bucky, sounding confused and sad. "What'd you do?"

A ragged sigh, presumably Steve's, and Tony could just picture those broad shoulders sagging. "When we fought, you and me, I couldn't. If I'd just killed you, I could've finished fast enough, but." Another deep sigh. "You knocked us into the river before I could disable the third carrier. It got a round of shots off before something stopped it."

"That would be Sir," said JARVIS helpfully. "He avoided the shot meant for him and disabled the main guns by overloading their individual motion processors and causing them to crack at the weak point in their housing."

Tony huffed up at the camera. "And you told me it was paranoid to deliberately build in an exploitable weakness," he said softly, comforted by being able to tease JARVIS about their old argument.

"Which is why there are no such weaknesses in this structure," said JARVIS tartly.

Tony chuckled. "What's he talking about, though? Was Bucky there?"

JARVIS brought the volume back up on their eavesdropping.

"...even more deaths on my conscience. You shoulda let me go, I ain't worth. I can't ever make up for that." Bucky sounded broken, and Tony suppressed the urge to go lay one on Captain America's perfect marble jaw -- that way lay madness and a broken hand.

"Is that what Stark's been telling you?" asked Steve, belligerent and sure of himself as ever.

"Tony don't know any of this, Steve. He ain't like that. He's been nothing but sweet to me, in bed and out." Bucky sounded so lost and Tony knew he'd break soon and go out and hug him. "He's my best guy."

"I didn't even know you were like that," said Steve, sounding all butthurt about it.

There was a silence and then, "I never know how to tell you. I don't know how you feel about, you know, all that."

There was another sound, one Tony was pretty sure was kissing, and Tony waved his hand. "Turn it off, J. Don't let Rogers anywhere but the office. Bucky can come down if he needs to get his things or whatever." Tony felt defeated, but he'd known it might happen.

It just figured it'd be Rogers taking another thing away from him.

Tony stopped in front of the freight elevator. "Well?"

The wall remained stubbornly closed. "Sir, I really don't think--"

"JARVIS, take me downstairs," said Tony, hating the way his chest ached.

"Sir, Bucky is asking for you," said JARVIS. "May I let him in?"

Tony threw his hands up. "Ugh, fine. But not Rogers."

Bucky slipped in through the door, shutting it firmly behind him. "I didn't know you knew him," he said. "And I didn't tell him to kiss me."

Tony licked his lips and sipped his nearly-forgotten coffee. "Did you like it?"

Bucky shrugged. "Kinda? Mostly I was offended on your behalf, to be honest," he said, laughing hollowly. "I mean, who does that?"

"Passionate assholes," said Tony dryly. "I should know, I used to be one."

"I hate to break it to you, doll, but you still are," said Bucky, stepping closer. "Can... Can I still kiss you?"

"Are you gonna leave with him?" Tony shot back.

Bucky shook his head. "I might see if I can get you two back in the same room once Sam's here, but, no. I found what I need here with you."

Tony took the last step to plant his forehead on Bucky's shoulder, sighing when those familiar arms closed around him, one softer than the other but both just as tender. "I don't want you to go," he said, bringing one hand up to cling to Bucky's shirt. He turned his face up and gave Bucky his biggest puppy eyes.

Bucky kissed him, soft and sweet. "You two need to talk, but Tony... I'm the reason Steve didn't finish his job. I was. I got a lotta bad stuff in my past, and it's taken a long time to get it outta me."

Tony took a deep breath, and then another. "The arm?"

"Hydra," said Bucky, voice flat and eyes full of pain. "I didn't ask for it."

"I know," said Tony, pulling him into another kiss. "I've known that, at least, since the first day. I guess..." He took a deep breath, let it out. "I guess we'll have to talk. All of us."

Bucky let out another hollow laugh, and Tony tried to ignore how both their eyes were wet. "Sam will be so smug."

"Fuck," said Tony, sniffling and hiding his face in Bucky's neck again, arms properly around him now.

Bucky let him stand there breathing for longer than Tony thought was even close to polite, but honestly, fuck Rogers for ruining their nice morning. Afternoon. Morfternoon. Whatever.

Tony took a deep breath and stepped back. "Okay. Okay. You go out and talk to Rogers, and I'll just. I need a few more minutes. I'll get DUM-E to make him a smoothie, too, and we'll all drink our terrible drinks and try to act like adults."

"I mean, I could make--"

"No," said Tony, stopping him with a finger over his mouth. "I am not ready to feed Captain Asshole yet. A smoothie is as good as it gets."

Bucky nibbled at his finger and then kissed him. "That's fair." He took a deep breath, and then gave Tony a much more passionate kiss, one full of all the promises they'd been trying not to make, the ones that had happened anyway as Bucky's clothes moved into Tony's closet, as he learned all the ways to make Tony smile, as Tony rearranged his life little by little to make room in it for Bucky.

Tony was left gasping and half-hard, but smiling, anyway. "How am I gonna stay mad after that?" he said petulantly.

"I promise not to use the same technique to calm Stevie down," said Bucky. "Now go on, pet your bots and bang your head or whatever you need to find your zen."

Tony nodded. "Thanks. JARVIS can keep us updated on Sam's ETA, I know the two of them text behind my back."

"If you know about it, it's hardly behind your back, sir," protested JARVIS. "The elevator will work now."

"Yeah, yeah," said Tony. He took one more lingering kiss, sweeter than Bucky's fierce devotion, sweet like all the goodness Bucky had brought into his lonely life. "I don't know if Steve and I can ever be friends again, but for you, I'll try not to be enemies."

Bucky kissed his eyebrow. "That's all I can ask, sugar."

"Thanks, butter bean." Tony kissed his jaw, feeling the familiar scruff against his mouth, and then went to the open elevator. He took deep breaths all the way down to the lab, finding that DUM-E had already done two smoothies in their usual cups and was working on a third, one of Tony's old spares ready to fill.

"We are using Bucky's formula for Captain Rogers, sir," said JARVIS. "I suppose this makes five people now who know you're alive."

"That's so too many," said Tony, flopping into one of his work chairs and spinning it. "But it can't be helped. I'm dying to know how Sam knows Captain Asshole, though."

"From the conversation upstairs, I believe it was through the VA, sir. After all, both Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes were once soldiers." JARVIS was silent for a moment, and then he added, "What are his access privileges?"

"Bucky's stay the same, and, fuck. Sergeant. Fucking Bucky Barnes. Motherfucker." Tony but his face in his hands, then scrubbed through his hair. "I've been banging a war hero."

"That hardly seems surprising, sir," said JARVIS. "You almost took up with the good Captain as I recall." He sounded very snippy.

Tony looked up, shaking his finger at JARVIS' camera. "You don't get to judge me for my emotional crisis here, honeybunches. It's a lot to take in in one day. Morning. Fuck, it's been, like, an hour. Let me have my breakdown."

"As you say, sir," said JARVIS, though he did sound softer this time, so Tony allowed it.

He picked up his coffee mug and drained the last drop. "I need more coffee if I'm going to cope with all this. Are there cookies down here? Can I take Bucky one and not Steve without getting the stinkeye, do you think?"

The coffee machine clicked on, but Tony could tell JARVIS was silently judging him.

"Yes, fine. You'd think you were the dad around here." Tony rolled his eyes and then went over to peek at what DUM-E was doing. "You wouldn't poison it for me, would you?"

DUM-E gave him a curious look, then poured the smoothie into the cup and added it to the row of them waiting in the fridge.

"Yeah, I thought not. Probably wouldn't work on him, anyway. Stupid super soldiers." Tony rooted through the cupboards, finding some of the new granola mix Bucky was trying out, which he liked much better than whatever he'd been doing before. He munched on that and signaled for music, pulling up one of the designs he was very stuck on and trying to use the excess adrenaline to shake something loose.

JARVIS gave him time to calm down, and then finally turned the music off and announced, "Sergeant Barnes would like to request your presence upstairs with his breakfast."

"Oh, shit, yeah. All right, fine, but I was getting somewhere with this, so don't let me lose the thread." Tony grabbed all three smoothies and trekked up the stairs, feeling himself tense up all over again as the sound of voices filtered down.

"...you think?" came Bucky's wry, gravelly voice.

"I just don't know if--" Steve began, and then Tony pushed through the door and they both froze.

They'd made themselves comfortable in Tony's waiting area, as he should have expected them to, both holding empty mugs and Steve looking very conflicted, while Bucky just looked hopeful.

"Brought breakfast," said Tony, handing Bucky both smoothies. "You're allowed to share."

Bucky chuckled and handed one of the drinks off to Steve. "You might wanna shake it up first, the powders tend to settle out."

"Yeah, DUM-E mixed these up a while ago," said Tony, snuggling up into Bucky's space like a dare. Bucky, fortunately, just put his arm around Tony's shoulders and let it ride.

"You told me about him, right? Your bot? I guess you finally got him to stop putting motor oil in," said Steve, giving his a shake.

Tony nodded. "JARVIS explained a few more times and eventually we got through to him." He took a sip of his own drink as if to prove it wasn't poisoned.

"Tony's made a real nice home out here, Stevie. It's real good of him to share it with me." Bucky's tone was pointed. "I'm a lot healthier now that he's fixed my arm, and he can afford to feed us both well."

Steve sighed. "Yeah," he said, looking defeated. "I worried about that, you know. I could tell it wasn't good for either of us."

"You'll be able to afford to feed yourself well, now, too," said Bucky. "And if you and Tony make up, you can come visit sometimes with Sam. There's guest rooms."

"I'm not sure--" began Steve.

Tony held up his hand. "Bucky is worth being mature about things," he said, "but not without Sam, and not if you're gonna try to steal him again."

Steve flushed very red and looked down at his hands. "That was. That was uncalled for, I'm sorry. I should never have."

"You should've done it when you had him there instead of driving him away to me because you couldn't see the value in the man he is now," snapped Tony.

Steve flinched.

"Hey, now," chided Bucky. "That ain't what this is about."

"It's a little bit what this is about," said Tony.

Steve let out a sad little laugh. "God, you two are so good together. I can really see it." He took another deep swig of his drink. "Figures the two fellas I ever coulda gone for, and you went for each other."

Tony rolled his eyes. "You are the worst at romance, Rogers," he said, feeling bitter all over again. They had been edging in that direction, bit by bit, flirting when Steve was in to get equipment or just dropping by Tony's SHIELD lab when they were both in DC. That had all gone down the drain with the rest, just another thing lost when Hydra ended up with a helicarrier.

"Amen to that," said Bucky, tapping his drink against Tony's. He shook it up and popped the top, taking a sip. "I didn't even think you went for dick."

Steve looked vaguely offended, but also like he couldn't manage to figure out what to protest. "I go for people, Buck. I always have."

"That explains Aunt Peggy," said Tony.

Steve sighed. "I missed you at the funeral. Both funerals, I guess," he said, getting that faraway look of melancholy that Tony used to chase away with jokes and tech toys and stories.

That wasn't Tony's job anymore, though. "Yeah, well. I am at the tippy top of Hydra's hit list, and you are officially the fifth human being who knows I'm alive. Though maybe the fourth, since Bucky and I hadn't gotten to the secret identities talk yet."

"You. Uh, you two have been sleeping together and neither of you knew?" said Steve, face all scrunched up like it didn't know what to do with all the feelings he was having.

Tony could kind of relate. "I knew enough about who he was to enjoy time with him, and we were getting to the tragic backstories a little at a time."

"It ain't like it's easy to tell someone you're legally dead," said Bucky. "That was not a thing I expected to have in common."

Steve sighed. "I'd ask why you didn't tell me, but I guess I know. I just wish you could've trusted me."

"Yeah, well, I wish that, too," said Tony, unable to hold back the bitterness in his tone.

Bucky kissed Tony's hair and that took all the fight out of him, so he concentrated on getting down the last of his stupid smoothie.

"JARVIS, what's Sam's ETA?" asked Bucky, glancing up at the ceiling.

"One moment," said JARVIS.

"You've still got him?" said Steve, face lighting up with that boyish wonder that always did Tony in. "I mean, of course you do."

"He's got some robots, too," said Bucky. "They're real sweet boys."

"Sam estimates three hours, unless, and I quote, 'Tony's weird mods make me fly or something,' sirs," said JARVIS.

"Thanks, hun," said Tony. He looked back at Steve. "You never met the bots, they lived in New York, but I told you about DUM-E. That's why I survived, you know. Everyone thought I was still in my labs at SHIELD, slaving away, but JARVIS hacked a bunch of security feeds and spirited me back to the tower before the op went down."

"It was only through Sir's timely intervention that the guns were disabled at all," said JARVIS pointedly, and Tony couldn't help but preen that his sarcastic computer was defending him. "He, Ms. Potts, and Col. Rhodes mutually decided to move him out here for protection, once it became clear he was listed among the dead."

Steve hung his head. "I can't even regret it, really, but I do feel every death's worth of guilt," he muttered. "I tried to fight Bucky, I did, but I couldn't do it."

"I was brainwashed by Hydra," said Bucky, soft and painful. "It, it was awful. I didn't even know him at first, but after the fight, the fall... I'd been out of cryo too long, away from the electricity, hadn't had a reset. Steve got through to me, helped find someone to undo what they did, even though I can't undo any of the deaths."

Tony breathed through it, through the panic creeping in at words like brainwashing and awful and reset and he had no idea what was done to Bucky, but he knew he couldn't really blame him. "I will forgive you. I will. I just, I need time, okay? I've been mad about this for a long time."

Bucky pulled him close and kissed his hair. "Nothing has to be perfect right now, babydoll. None of us are perfect."

"Fuck," said Tony, softly, but with feeling. He buried his face in Bucky's chest and tried to breathe through the painful unravelling of the knot of anger in his chest, not all of it, but the parts that were wrapped around Cap's name, that spiky, barbed-wire blame that clung to everything about the past.

Steve made a wounded noise and Tony tensed.

Bucky's arms squeezed gently, then he lifted Tony bodily into his lap with the kind of strength he'd only hinted at having before this. "It's gonna be okay," he said softly, kissing Tony's hair. Tony felt his head move, chin scruff catching at Tony's hair as he said, "You two are gonna work shit out if Sam has to put you in a get-along shirt and take blackmail photos, you got it, Stevie?"

"Hey!" said Steve indignantly. "How come I'm the one that gets a lecture."

"You're the one who hasn't said you forgive him yet," said Bucky pointedly.

There was a deep sigh. "Of course I forgive you, Tony. You're right that they'd be out for blood if they knew you still had some in you."

"Morbid, Rogers," said Tony with a snort. He wiped his eyes surreptitiously and gave Steve a look, staying right where he was. "I'm using all my blood, my giant brain needs it."

"I'm fond of the things your little brain does with it, too," teased Bucky, which earned him a kiss that relaxed Tony a little more.

"Does Sam put up with this?" asked Steve, though his face was more intrigued than grossed out.

"Nope," said Tony cheerfully. "But you don't get a choice today."

Bucky laughed into Tony's hair, hiding it very badly. "I ain't complaining."

His stomach rumbled very loudly, and Tony sighed.

"All right, yes, take your bestie down to make breakfast and start whatever food we're going to bribe Sam with. I'm going to go work and JARVIS is going to shamelessly eavesdrop and play me all the juicy bits." Tony kissed him one more time, with a lot of tongue and future intent, and then pointed toward the shop. "Cargo elevator. Rogers doesn't get to meet the bots yet."

"Living areas only, got it," said Bucky with a nod, helping them both get standing. "JARVIS, is Sam planning to spend the night?"

"I believe so, sir," said JARVIS. "Will Captain Rogers also be staying?"

"I don't think--" said Steve, eyes going wide and hands up in surrender.

Bucky bit his lip and looked over at Tony. "C'mon, you haven't even had a chance to throttle him yet."

Tony sighed. And if it was a big, huge, dramatic sigh, well, Steve was a big, huge, dramatic person and deserved it. "Please," he said, because at that point he'd basically have said anything to make Bucky stop making that face, "Please, stay."

**Author's Note:**

> And now we wait for Sam to come be a reasonable adult at all three of them. He will be as surprised as the rest of us that any actual mature conversation happened at all. Bucky will stress bake.
> 
> Since the world is on fire, the plague is here, the US is descending into a fascist dictatorship, and everything sucks _even more_ , I cannot predict when the fuck I'll get around to the next part. Could be soon! Could be a giant meteor! Who the fuck knows.
> 
> Stay safe. Be well. Make art.


End file.
